Accused wife killer Stephen Scharf seeks companionship online

Before his conviction on charges that he murdered his wife was overturned this week, Stephen Scharf wanted the world to know who he really was: a disabled Army veteran who enjoyed visiting historic battlefields, hiking the Appalachian Trail and meeting at the Barnes & Noble coffee bar.

And he is a widower, according to a profile he posted on the website writeaprisoner.com. His first wife, Jody Ann, is dead. She fell off the Palisades in Englewood Cliffs in 1992. Or, as prosecutors believe, she was pushed.

Investigator John W. Field in Englewood Cliffs in 2011 at the spot where Scharf allegedly pushed his wife to her death.

Scharf made no mention of his second wife, Tina, whom he married before his cold-case trial and conviction in 2011. Nor did he mention their daughter.

He doesn’t explicitly say he is looking for a girlfriend. He wants to exchange letters, photos or phone calls. “Tell me about yourself,” he says.

As officials prepared to transfer Scharf from the state prison in Trenton to the Bergen County Jail for a possible retrial, the posting remained online. It is a testament to Scharf’s determination to portray himself as a regular guy who has been unjustly accused. “I am innocent of this charge,” it reads.

Scharf, 63, grins open-mouthed and wide-eyed in a cheerful photograph on the page, which cost $40 a year. His graying hair, described as salt-and-pepper in his personal statistics, is pulled into a ponytail. He wears a rosary around his neck. He says he will answer every reply.

Stephen Scharf at the state prison in Trenton in 2013. His conviction has been overturned.

But his dead wife’s brother, John McAuliffe, said Friday that he had seen the posting and found it “appalling.” He said he was especially struck that Scharf had described himself as a widower. “It’s typical. That’s him. He’s a narcissist.” McAuliffe said he remains convinced that Scharf murdered Jody Ann.

Attempts to reach Tina Scharf this week were unsuccessful.

Jonathan, Scharf’s son from his first marriage, did not return phone messages. He testified against his father at the 2011 trial.

Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said this week that he is considering whether to appeal the reversal of the guilty verdict to the New Jersey Supreme Court. He said that “at the least,” his office will retry Scharf on the murder charge. It was Molinelli’s office that decided to reinvestigate the long-dormant case and ultimately seek an indictment. The high-profile trial featured Dr. Michael Baden — who had testified for the defense in O.J. Simpson’s trial — as the key prosecution witness.

Scharf still has some supporters, a small group of scientists and court watchers who were fascinated by the physical evidence in the case. Some said Scharf’s personal life was irrelevant.

“I don’t know Mr. Scharf. What I believe and what I don’t believe is based upon the scientific evidence,” said Cyril Wecht, a forensic scientist who testified for the defense in Scharf’s trial. “Based upon the physical, scientific evidence, I do not find a basis on which to say that Mr. Scharf hurled his wife from that ledge,” Wecht said Friday. “He could not have done it.”

Scharf, who was represented by a public defender on his appeal, is expected to be assigned a new court-appointed attorney next week. He will also be scheduled for a bail hearing.

The appeals court ruling on Monday said that too much hearsay evidence had been admitted at Scharf’s trial. The testimony included emotional accounts by Jody Ann’s friends, who said that she was afraid her husband would kill her. A therapist testified that Jody Ann mentioned that her husband had a “crazy” idea to have a picnic on the cliff edge, and that she would never go.

The appeals court said that testimony was overly prejudicial and may have swayed the jury. The court also said the prosecution’s evidence “was by no means overwhelming.”

Scharf has always maintained that the couple, on the verge of divorce, had been resolving their differences on the cliff edge when Jody slipped and disappeared.

It is not known whether anyone responded to Scharf’s posting on the website. It is one of thousands on the site, managed by a company that claims that contact with the outside world helps reduce prisoner recidivism.